Linton Evans

Research Interests

Brain tumor surgery; spine tumor surgery; fluorescence guided surgery; image-guidance; MRI thermography; laser interstitial thermal therapy; hyperthermia

Education

• BA, University of Chicago
• MD, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
• Residency in Neurological Surgery, Dartmouth Hitchcock Health
• Fellowship in Neurosurgical Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Research Projects

• Confocal laser endomicroscopy in tumor surgery

  Confocal laser endomicroscopy in tumor surgery

  Preclinical and clinical evaluation of confocal laser endomicroscopy in tumor recognition and surgery.  Aspects of this project include hardware design, fluorophore development, machine learning, and model development.

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• Circulating intrathecal drug delivery

  Circulating intrathecal drug delivery

  This project involves the use of a unique porcine model of brain tumors to evaluate a closed loop circulating pump of intrathecal drug delivery.

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• Tumor targeted therapies using MRI guided laser interstitial thermal therapy and thermal sensitive chemotherapies

  Tumor targeted therapies using MRI guided laser interstitial thermal therapy and thermal sensitive chemotherapies

  This project utilizes a porcine model of brain tumors to evaluate the use of laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) to target thermal sensitive liposomal formulations of chemotherapy in the treatment of brain tumors such as glioblastoma.  Methods involve fluorimetric assays of drug distribution and thermal injury, mass spectrometry, and predictive modeling of drug distribution in response to varying thermal conditions and serum kinetics. 

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• Spine laser interstitial thermal therapy

  Spine laser interstitial thermal therapy

  This NCI R01 funded research project is focused on developing image-guidance and motion compensated MRI thermography for the treatment of spinal tumors using the minimally invasive laser interstitial thermal therapy.  This project utilizes a novel porcine model of spinal metastases in the Center for Surgical Innovation. 

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Selected Publications

• Li C, Evans LT, Hong J, Davis SC, Roberts DW, Paulsen KD, Fan X. Fully automated image updating for brain shift compensation after dural opening. J Neurosurg. 2025 Sep 5;144(1):206–216. doi: 10.3171/2025.4.JNS242786. PMID: 40911919; PMCID: PMC13032198
• Skandalakis GP, Viganò L, Neudorfer C, Rossi M, Fornia L, Cerri G, Kinsman KP, Bajouri Z, Tavakkoli AD, Koutsarnakis C, Lani E, Komaitis S, Stranjalis G, Zadeh G, Barrios-Martinez J, Yeh FC, Serletis D, Kogan M, Hadjipanayis CG, Hong J, Simmons N, Gordon EM, Dosenbach NUF, Horn A, Bello L, Kalyvas A, Evans LT. White matter connections within the central sulcus subserving the somato-cognitive action network. Brain. 2025 May 13;148(5):1789–1800. doi: 10.1093/brain/awaf022. PMID: 39869456; PMCID: PMC12073987
• Komaitis S, Ihezie SA, Skandalakis GP, Kalyvas A, Drosos E, Neromyliotis E, Anastasopoulos L, Charalampopoulou E, Stranjalis G, Evans LT, Koutsarnakis C. Reappraising the Anatomy of the Ansa Lenticularis in the Human Brain: A Cadaveric, Focused Fiber Micro-Dissection Study Perspective. J Integr Neurosci. 2025 Sep 29;24(9):36357. doi: 10.31083/JIN36357. PMID: 41074420.
• Hoopes PJ, Tavakkoli AD, Moodie KA, Maurer KJ, Meehan KR, Wallin DJ, Aulwes E, Duval KEA, Chen KL, -Burney MAC, Li C, Fan X, Evans LT, Paulsen KD. Porcine-human glioma xenograft model. Immunosuppression and model reproducibility. Cancer Treat Res Commun. 2024;38:100789. doi: 10.1016/j.ctarc.2024.100789. Epub 2024 Jan 13. PMID: 38262125; PMCID: PMC11026118
• Song Y, Surgenor JV, Leeds ZT, Kanter JH, Martinez-Camblor P, Smith WJ, Boone MD, Abess AT, Evans LT, Kobylarz EJ. Variables associated with cortical motor mapping thresholds: A retrospective data review with a unique case of interlimb motor facilitation. Front Neurol. 2023 Apr 11;14:1150670. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1150670. PMID: 37114230; PMCID: PMC10128911.
• Fan X, Mirza SK, Li C, Evans LT, Ji S, Paulsen KD. Accuracy of Stereovision-Updated Versus Preoperative CT-Based Image Guidance in Multilevel Lumbar Pedicle Screw Placement: A Cadaveric Swine Study. JB JS Open Access. 2022 Mar 21;7(1):e21.00129. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.OA.21.00129. PMID: 35350121; PMCID: PMC8937011
• Fan X, Durtschi MS, Li C, Evans LT, Ji S, Mirza SK, Paulsen KD. Hand-Held Stereovision System for Image Updating in Open Spine Surgery. Oper Neurosurg. 2020 Sep 15;19(4):461–470. doi: 10.1093/ons/opaa057. PMID: 32365204; PMCID: PMC7490214.
• Roberts DW, Olson JD, Evans LT, Kolste KK, Kanick SC, Fan X, Bravo JJ, Wilson BC, Leblond F, Marois M, Paulsen KD. Red-light excitation of protoporphyrin IX fluorescence for subsurface tumor detection. J Neurosurg. 2018 Jun;128(6):1690-1697. doi: 10.3171/2017.1.JNS162061. Epub 2017 Aug 4. PMID: 28777025; PMCID: PMC5797501